Given the recent proliferation of television (TV) channels, viewers are quickly migrating towards the use of Electronic Program Guides (EPGs) with the hope of narrowing the list of available channels/programs somewhat. An EPG typically provides information about the content of the programs on each channel and transmission times. Thus, the viewer is allowed to select between channels and programs to fit their needs.
Certain programs, however, may be televised at a time that conflicts with the viewer's own schedule, or with the broadcasting of another program of interest. When this occurs, viewers may choose to videotape or otherwise record the desired program and view it at a later, more convenient time. To accomplish this recording task, viewers need to be able to properly configure the recording device, be it a videocassette recorder (VCR) or videodisc recorder. This typically requires identifying the channel, the program to be recorded and/or the time period for recording the channel. Many improvements have been made to the recording devices and the broadcasting devices to further simplify this recording task.
There is currently a move towards a more personalized television environment in which viewers are allowed to view selected programming on demand. Set top boxes (e.g., computers) are being developed that support this type of enhanced viewing capability.
Current implementations, such as, for example, TiVo, available from TiVo Inc. of San Jose, allow the viewer to record TV programs, rewind and fast forward like a VCR. However, since these set-top boxes store the recorded programming as digital data on a hard disk drive, there are other features provided to further enhance the viewer's control. By way of example, the set-top box can be programmed to automatically record the program being watched, thereby making it possible to pause the program, view the program frame by frame in slow-motion, or provide for an instant replay capability. These set top boxes can further be programmed to record selected programs based on their titles as listed in the EPG. Thus, selected episodes can be recorded regardless of the actual broadcast time. Additionally, these set-top boxes provide a user interface through which the user is able to select recorded programs to view on demand.
Unfortunately, these conventional devices tend to be relatively unsophisticated in that they only record user definable programs and/or service provider suggested channels. Moreover, these devices employ circular buffering techniques, wherein programs are recorded to a hard drive, stored for a specified period of time, and then erased (viewed or not) to make room for a later recorded program.
Consequently, it would be useful to have more intelligent and more robust methods and arrangements for recording television programs and other broadcast multimedia content programs.